Monster Munch with your Merlot sir?
Sure, you like a lovely, crisp sauvignon blanc, but here's quite another incarnation of a crisp wine. A wine and crisps tasting is coming to Manchester.
Wine tasting events used to be stuffy affairs for professionals and wine snobs alike to release their inner Jilly Goolden. These days, they’re more welcoming, with everyone from dedicated wine academies Manchester Wine School to neighbourhood wine shops like Cork of the North and Grape to Grain offering relaxed, informal sessions for people at all stages of their wine journey.
They will be pairing wines with your favourite corner shop crisps like Wotsits, Frazzles, and Monster Munch
It can’t just be us that got stuck into a bunch of Zoom tastings complete with mini bottles delivered to our doors during lockdown. Some of us (me) were so committed that they had to buy a Coravin and now have a wine rack full of variously depleted bottles.
Informal or not, when snacks are provided to help you to consider how wine and food interact on a wine-tasting sesh, they’re usually posh ones: fancy crackers, sourdough, or even a mini-cheeseboard.
But have you ever had Wotsits with your wine?
Manchester’s sustainable cafe, Open Kitchen, in the People’s History Museum thinks you should give it a go.
They’ve launched a wine and crisps tasting event set to take place on 22 September. The team say they will be pairing wines with your favourite corner shop crisps like Wotsits, Frazzles, and Monster Munch. The idea is to “take all of the snobbery…out of a wine tasting evening” while still giving people the chance to “learn about wines and how they compliment different flavours.”
Nathan Fiske from C&O Wines will be the cork dork hosting proceedings. He will source wines for the evening from “small, independent, family-run or cooperative owned vineyards, and wineries that have organic or minimal intervention methods at their core.”
Tickets are £25 and include five paired wines and snacks. Further drinks are available to buy on the night as well as a small plate menu - if you want to make a meal of it. The entire evening will be suitable for vegetarians, but some snacks may not be suitable for vegans. Email the team with any specific dietary requirements.
The “Chips and Sips” wine and crisp tasting event takes place at 7pm on 22 September at Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar at People’s History Museum
We’re hoping Scampi Fries and champers might make an appearance in future.
Open Kitchen, People's History Museum, Left Bank, Manchester M3 3ER
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